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Dragonwater Ti Kuan Yin Oolong Tea
Review

A Light and Rather Flavorful Oolong
Tea

Summary : This tea from the
Dragonwater Tea Company (now out of business)
has a very light and pleasant taste. For those who don't like the stronger
oolong teas, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how subdued the flavor
of this tea is. A very good "starter" oolong tea.

Review : It's now 1am Pacific Time. And here I am,
writing up a tea review. If you haven't figured it out by now, I have
no life beyond my computer and web sites. But at least I'm honest about
it. Yet, there are certain advantages to this...namely I love to experiment
with new things, especially teas. My experimentation in tea tasting makes
up for the "no life" part.

As I've become something of a fan of oolong teas recently, during my
last order with the
Dragonwater Tea Company (now out of business)
I picked up quite a few of their sampler oolong teas.

This particular tea is called Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess). While one
would get the impression from the "goddess" part of the name that this
tea is strong, overpowering and overall just plain "dominant," I found
nothing of the sort in this happy tea tasting experience.

Here is the description of this tea as provided by the
Dragonwater Tea Company (now out of business) : "Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess) Tea. Ti Kuan Yin is the most famous
of the Chinese Oolongs. This tea produces a light, sweet cup with a fragrant
orchid finish."

This tea has a very pleasant aroma straight out of the vacumned sealed
pouch it is packed in. It isn't a strong fragrance, but what there is
quite pleasant...if a bit on the light side.

And this "light side" also shows up in the teas color once brewed, sort
of a very, very light orange color.

The taste of the tea more or less matches its color too. It is quite
pleasant, but light. The flavor won't overwhelm you, or knock you dead
in it's tracks. Indeed, the tea even has a "light flowery" taste to it,
which I rather liked at 1am in December in Northwest Nevada.

This tea has no bitterness. And it also lacks the "punch" that some
other oolong teas have that can lead to puckered lips as you swallow.
In short, this is just a "smooth" tea, both in taste and the way it goes
down. All in all, this is a very good "starter oolong" tea for people
who have never experienced oolong teas (or at least a good one) before.

Recommendation : Yes. A very light colored and light
tasting oolong tea, with a very subdued "flowery" taste to it. Makes
for a good introduction oolong tea. Little after-taste and no bitterness
round out this teas characteristics.